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"Stand
in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there
this word....Has this house, which is called by my name,
become a DEN OF ROBBERS in your sight?" Jeremiah 7:2,11
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These
words of Jeremiah (above) did not exactly endear him
to the Temple establishment. But then again, this
was a man already known for his "chutzpah." He
scathingly denounced the worship of idols and was
relentless in his condemnation of depravity. Though
by nature timid and shrinking, Jeremiah fearlessly
proclaimed the Divine message, whether to ruler,
noble, priest or man in the street. He was one man
pitted against the entire nation.
During most of the 45 turbulent years of his
prophetic career, Jeremiah was either "on the run,"
narrowly escaping death, or imprisoned with charges
of treason, collaboration and desertion constantly
hurled at him by the authorities. It comes, then, as
no surprise that Jeremiah holds the record in
Scripture as the target of the most number of foiled
assassination attempts.
One of these plots was to kill Jeremiah by drowning
him in a cistern below the courtyard of the king's
Jerusalem palace. During your next tour, I invite
you to climb down with me into this very cistern:
it’s the perfect spooky place to hear how Jeremiah
thwarted his enemies. |
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After the Babylonians
captured Judah, they exiled all the VIPs including
King Jehoiachin to the "rivers of Babylon." Zedekieh,
the last king of Judah, ruled as a Babylonian
puppet. But Zedekieh double-crossed the Babylonians
by forging a temporary pact with the Egyptians. Jeremiah, ever the realist, advised the king to
reverse his strategy and open the gates of the
capital city to the Babylonian army so Judah would
survive.
The king’s officials accused Jeremiah of treason and
tried to drown him by dropping him into a cistern
which they assumed was full. Luckily for Jeremiah,
“there was no water in the cistern, only mud, and
into the mud Jeremiah sank.” (Jeremiah 38:6) Ebed-melech, the king’s Ethiopian servant, feared
for Jeremiah’s life and came to the rescue. He took
some torn, worn-out rags (we’ll tie together some
red checked “keffiyehs” when we reenact the story)
and threw them down with some ropes. It took no less
than thirty men to haul Jeremiah up out of that
cistern. (I wonder how many falafels Jeremiah had
eaten beforehand!) |
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| "And Jeremiah stayed
in the Court of the Guard until the day Jerusalem
was captured." (Jeremiah 38: 26) |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Jeremiah dubbed the almond
“the watchful tree” for it blossoms first |
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My first visit to Jeremiah’s cistern in the
winter of 2001 was with a tour leader who so completely
identified with Jeremiah that he initially
refused to follow me down the 25-foot
rickety ladder. He peered through the narrow
opening, saw puddles of water and thought
the cistern was full. (There was NO water!) Once down, he was astonished to note that
the cistern was large -- about fifty feet in
circumference. We explored with a flashlight
and detected seven openings to the royal
courtyard above us.
The climb down into “Jeremiah’s" cistern
doesn't demand physical stamina -- only
mental! Both male and female visitors of all
ages have easily managed it. After
maneuvering a narrow opening, we descend an
iron-runged ladder into a dark hole
containing imaginary creatures. (It's not as
scary as it sounds -- it's GREAT FUN!) And I
recommend doing this towards the end of your
tour when you’ll have a great selection of
dirty clothes. Note: we may be sinking into
the mud, just as Jeremiah did!
You'll find this cistern is
an awesome place to set the mood of
Jerusalem on the eve of the destruction of
Solomon’s temple. Jeremiah 38 perfectly
recreates the atmosphere in Jerusalem, with
its overtones of treason, double-dealing,
intrigue, and confusion as the Babylonian
army was making its final assault. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Looking north in the City
of David's Area G, behind the yellow pails,
"Jeremiah's cistern" would be to the
northwest |
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Copyright 2005 Gila Yudkin. Permission
needed for any reuse. |
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2014 Postscript |
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The above was written in 2005.
Archeologists now believe that "Jeremiah's"
cistern is from the 14th century.
That's how archeology goes. One day a
find is "authentic" and a few years later,
it's proved to be "traditional" or even
hokey. The cistern, which was once so
much fun, is now closed. But we can
still
duck and wade through
Hezekiah's Tunnel, and then walk
down the actual steps of the 2000-year-old
Pool of Siloam
where Jesus told the man born blind to go wash
his eyes. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Orange
arrow points to the beginning of Hezekiah's
Tunnel |
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Gila Yudkin, who
calls herself a former Connecticut Yankee
living now in King David's Court, has been
guiding in the "City of David" for
over 30 years.
She thrives on showing veteran tour leaders
new, authentic, biblical sites. (And
sometimes fun hokey ones!) Give her an
opportunity and your sermons will be
enriched and your colleagues envious.... |
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"Let's climb down into Jeremiah's Cistern"
(as text without the photos) was the first in the
series of free quarterly e-letters (since
1998!) sent on
request to tour leaders, pastors, clergy,
teachers, Bible students, colleagues and
friends. If you'd like to receive
"Holy Sites: Gila's Highlights",
please
contact
Gila. |
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More Jerusalem Fun |
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On the Mount of Olives |
Nehemiah and the ramparts |
Priestly blessing |
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If you are planning to come solo (or duo) to
Jerusalem soon, then you may want to
check out Gila’s unorthodox guide, “Explore
Jerusalem’s Soul” for the top ten places
to study biblical stories. |
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GILA
YUDKIN
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TCHERNIKOVSKI
64A
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JERUSALEM
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ISRAEL
gila@itsgila.com
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